Colorado coach Tad Boyle said he's "not trying to reinvent the wheel" when he preaches rebounding and defense to his team.

There is a sense of pride, however, when the Buffaloes put those principles into action. They did that on Sunday afternoon in rallying past Harvard, 70-62, at Coors Events Center.

"It is nice when your players see it and experience it and hopefully they understand it and take ownership in that," Boyle said of the defense and rebounding performance of his team. "It's just who we are and what our program is based on. Games like tonight are why."

Spencer Dinwiddie scored a game-high 17 points and Josh Scott (12 points, 11 rebounds) posted his second double-double of the season to help the Buffs (6-1) win their sixth straight.

This was CU's most impressive win, as they beat a Harvard (4-1) squad that was among the top 30 teams in the latest national polls.

"The thing that is so satisfying about this win is how we got it and the team that we got it against," Boyle said. "It wasn't easy for us, but our guys found a way. For that I'm extremely proud and happy for our players."

For much of the afternoon, however, Harvard was the better team.

The Crimson shot the ball well early on, especially from 3-point range, and built a 44-30 lead early in the second half. That matched CU's biggest deficit of the season.

The Buffs then went on an 11-2 run to pull within 46-41, but committed three consecutive turnovers. That helped Harvard extend the lead back to 50-41 on a Jonah Travis dunk with 11:32 to play.

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From that point on, it was all CU.

"We don't like to get beat at home, or anywhere, to be exact," said Xavier Johnson, who had 11 points and six rebounds. "Harvard is a great team, so we just knew, each one of us personally, that we had to get the W."

Scott scored on a put-back with 10:42 to go that kick-started a 19-1 run that turned the tide of the game.

Scott's defense directly led to three consecutive CU 3-pointers -- two by Johnson -- during that run. The first of Johnson's treys put CU ahead for good, 53-52, with 5 minutes to play.

"Coach Boyle lays out the game plan for us and I was able to hit the open shot," Johnson said. "We had great ball movement, we played inside-out and I was able to be open for the jump shot."

Johnson hit another 3 on the next possession and Dinwiddie a 3 on the possession after that. All of those shots came in transition after the Buffs got stop after stop against the Harvard offense.

"I think what changed (in the second half) was our defensive talking," Scott said. "We locked them down, literally, in the second. I think that was the big change. They're a good team and for us to do what we did to them in the second half is pretty impressive."

Harvard connected on 53.6 percent of its shots in the first half, taking a 42-30 lead into intermission. In the second half, the Crimson shot 23.5 percent and scored just 20 points.

"The difference in the game defensively was Wesley Gordon and Josh Scott in the second half," Boyle said.

That duo combined for 16 rebounds and four blocks in the second half alone.

"They really clogged up the middle," Boyle said. "They changed and altered shots, because Harvard, like us, they want to attack the rim. They want to play inside-out like we do. Those guys (Gordon and Scott) defensively in the second half were really good."

Offensively, the Buffs leaned on Scott and Dinwiddie after the break. Both had 10 points in the second half. Johnson had eight points -- including those two 3s -- in the final 5 minutes.

When it was over, the Buffs had a victory that could carry a lot of weight at the end of the season.

"For us, I think we needed a big win," Scott said. "Harvard is not an Arkansas State. They're a really good team. Looking forward, it just shows us that if we play two halves like that, we can pretty much keep in there with anybody and beat anybody. It's encouraging."

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